- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Freelance photographer Elena Zhukova was at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center March 8 as part of a photo shoot involving all the UC campuses. To browse the professional photos Zhukova shot at other UC locations, visit the UC Office of the President gallery website. Below are snap shots of Zhukova at work at Kearney.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Felicitas "Lita" Santos is marking her last day at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center March 8. Santos worked at Kearney for 25 years, much of that time staffing the receptionist's desk in the main academic building. With her cheerful demeanor and vast knowledge of the institution, she has come to be known as "The Face of Kearney."
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Namesake of the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center’s postharvest center, F. Gordon Mitchell, died in February. He was 88.
Mr. Mitchell began his distinguished career with the University of California Cooperative Extension immediately following graduation from college in 1949. He was the viticulture advisor in San Joaquin County for eight years before taking a position as statewide pomology specialist at UC Davis in 1957.
During his career, Mr. Mitchell’s work resulted in an industry-wide change to rapid cooling methods, the improvement in fruit packing efficiency, and greater understanding among farmers about the requirements of produce during the postharvest time period. He worked primarily on plums, peaches, nectarines, cherries, pears, strawberries, applies and kiwifruit, however, during his 42-year career conducted research on virtually all pomological commodities.
Mr. Mitchell retired in 1991. When Dinuba farmer/packer LeRoy Giannini contributed funds to build the new postharvest laboratory at Kearney, he suggested naming the building after Mr. Mitchell. On Feb. 8, 1993, the facility was christened the F. Gordon Mitchell Postharvest center.
Emeritus UC Cooperative Extension specialist Jim Thompson of the UC Davis Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering said Mr. Mitchell worked tirelessly with the California agriculture industry to improve the market for the state’s fresh fruits and tree nuts.
“He developed the early concepts and standards for handling California Granny Smith and Fuji apples, kiwifruit, and pistachio nuts,” Thompson said. “When the tree fruit industry had questions about postharvest issues, their first phone call was to Gordon."
UC Cooperative Extension postharvest horticulturist Mary Lu Arpaia, who is based at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, counts Mr. Mitchell as a mentor and guidepost for her career.
“Sometimes the best things in life that happen to you are unplanned,” Arpaia said about taking a job in the UC Davis postharvest lab when she was a graduate student. “That job was with Gordon and that was serendipity. When I think back on that one event I know it was one of the most important events in my graduate career and subsequent adventures in life.”
Arpaia said Mr. Mitchell’s work with his colleagues with forced air cooling and packaging established him to be a leader, “albeit a soft spoken one,” in the field of postharvest handling.
Mr. Mitchell was a Davis resident for 55 years. The family obituary described him as a gentle and devoted soul who took great pride in his faith, family and career. Mr. Mitchell is survived by his sister, two sons, a daughter and six grandchildren.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
In recognition of a productive career advancing integrated pest management programs in California and for tireless support of IPM practitioners, UC IPM entomologist Walt Bentley received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Applied IPM Ecologists.
The award was presented at the association's annual meeting, Feb. 6 in Oxnard, Calif., by his IPM colleague Pete Goodell, a nemotologist who is, like Bentley, based at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, Calif. Goodell is the current president of the Association of Applied IPM Ecologists.
Goodell said a hallmark of Bentley's work has been his ability to connect and empathize with his clientele, an outgrowth of his childhood on a small family farm near Linden, Calif. He began his career with UC Cooperative Extension in 1977 as an entomology farm advisor in Kern County and transferred to his position at Kearney in 1994.
"His projects over the years have addressed real problems of real people," Goodell said. "He spent many hours on farm calls and at the front counter, answering questions, seeking information on the problem and, if required, formulating a plan to seek a solution."
Bentley was part of many research and extension teams formed with campus and county academics to solve local problems, from potato tubermoth to mealy bugs to worm pests in tree fruits and nuts. Bentley focused on the biology of the pest and the weak link in its life cycle where management could employed: chemical, cultural or biological.
Goodell said that Bentley valued outputs and outcomes. He published more than 400 articles in diverse outlets, including the local press, trade magazines, newsletters, ANR publications, UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines, book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center has a presence at what is billed the world's largest agricultural exposition, the World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif., Feb. 14-16, 2012.